Publications

Working hand-in-hand with government and civil society, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina strives to protect, promote and advance the economic, social, cultural and political rights of all those living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with particular attention given to vulnerable and marginalized groups.

Education is crucial for the development of sustainable peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as it contributes to shaping the views and attitudes of young people. Despite changes over the past two decades, the teaching process remains based on outdated curricula and teaching materials. Combined with a heavy ethnic, religious, and gender bias, this means that schools often fail to equip students with the competencies they need for life in a dynamically changing and diverse society. Current education practices hinder reconciliation and jeopardize long-term stability, because they do not foster competencies, such as critical thinking, multiperspectivity, inclusivity, and respect of diversity, innovation and collaboration among the young generations.

This fact-sheet summarizes the key findings of the analysis of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission) of 433 domestic court decisions rendered in anti-discrimination cases from mid-2018 to mid-2021.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to play a vital role in strengthening the country’s ability to foster a sustainable and stable security environment, to strengthen Bosnia and Herzegovina’s governance, and to encourage its consolidation as a democratic society. The Mission supports political and education reform and works to promote and protect human rights of all citizens of BiH.

Overarching Objective: Bolstered effectiveness of law enforcement in BiH to combat serious crime and threats to security. Improved co-operation and exchange of criminal intelligence among the 16 LEAs in fighting organized crime. Improved compliance with EU SOCTA & EUROPOL security threats assessments. Proactive and high-level ILP-driven investigations. 

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina produced a factsheet on an ExB project titled: Informed citizens and efficient mechanisms to prevent and fight corruption. The main objective of the Project is to support BiH’s efforts in diminishing corruption by raising awareness of the consequences of corruption for BiH citizens and strengthening the capacity of anti-corruption bodies in corruption prevention.

This policy brief has been prepared based on the document Towards Education that Creates Changes: The report on the analysis of documents regulating primary and general secondary education in Bosnia and Herzegovina – on the path from traditional to contemporary curricula based on student learning outcomes, that has been developed in 2020 by a group of authors, experts in the area of education, who were engaged by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina within the project titled “Quality Education through Curriculum Reform” that is run by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina with financial support of the governments of the Kingdom of Norway and the Italian Republic.

This is the second public report by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina based on the monitoring of human trafficking and related cases completed before courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After a review of relevant international standards and the national anti-trafficking legal framework, it examines abilities of the national criminal justice system to: effectively prosecute human trafficking and adequately punish those responsible for it; treat victims with dignity while protecting them from harmful consequences of their involvement in criminal proceedings; and facilitate victims’ right to seek compensation from offenders. The report closes with specific recommendations targeted at several key actors. These aim to improve the criminal justice response to human trafficking in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

PREPARING A WORKSHOP FOR LAW STUDENTS: A brief guidebook with case studies for practical exercises in Hate Crimes, War Crimes and Crimes of Trafficking in Human Beings